NEW YORK (AP) — Investigators from multiple federal agencies launched an "interagency operation” on Monday at the troubled New York City jail where Sean “Diddy” Combs is being held. The investigators from the Bureau of Prisons, the Justice Department’s inspector general’s office and other law enforcement agencies descended on the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement to The Associated Press. The law enforcement operation was “designed to achieve our shared goal of maintaining a safe environment for both our employees and the incarcerated individuals housed at MDC Brooklyn,” the agency said.
Prison officials declined to provide specific details about the operation Monday morning. Combs' lawyers have highlighted a litany of horrors at the jail — including deplorable conditions, rampant violence and multiple deaths — as they’ve made repeated attempts to get him released on bail while he awaits trial next May on sex trafficking charges. The hip-hop mogul's detention and a rash of crimes connected to the jail in recent months have further galvanized public interest, leading to increased scrutiny and a push by the Justice Department and Bureau of Prisons to fix problems and hold perpetrators accountable.
Last month, federal prosecutors charged nine inmates in a spate of attacks from April to August at the Metropolitan Detention Center, the only federal jail in New York City. The allegations detailed serious safety.